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Let's Plays


Magnetic Ether
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I'm actually just curious, since I've been seeing the links to LPs a lot while looking for source tunes on YouTube...what the hell is the point? Not to criticise what anyone does with their time, but I'm confused as to where the enjoyment is in watching someone else play a video game. I've never watched one of them - is there goofy commentary, or something, or anything that deepens your experience, or is there a strange enjoyment in watching Cecil tackle another imp through someone else's control? I just don't get it.

Agreed completely. Unless they melt down or something, I don't see the point watching someone play a video game. If I need help I'll read a faq.

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Game Grumps is the only Let's Play sort of dealy that is anymore entertaining then actually playing the game, to me anyway. And that is pretty much the 'goofy commentary' you mentioned.

I have multiple times used other, totally boring Let's Play videos to check a few facts about what happens when in games. Apart from game grumps the only one I've ever watched in full was a Toejam and Earl co-op playthrough, and thats only because that game is hilarious.

That said, I like watching live speedrun attempts, they can be quite interesting.

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I don't think that was hijacking the thread XPRT. I agree with you. :)

Going back to Magfest, even though I had a great time doing everything i could I found it a little strange that the people who have made a name for themselves doing game related videos had more people at their panel than the people who were responsible for making the games.

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Usually I watch an LP if it's a game I love or one I wanted to get but never did, but there is one LPer I watch pretty much regardless of what he's playing, because he's hilarious. NerdCubed, but his channel is OfficialNerdCubed. He does a lot of different kinds of videos, such as permadeaths (if he dies once the LP is over).

Seriously, most of his stuff is really funny. His LP of Bully is great.

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the appeal of watching someone play a video game, to an actual gamer, should be obvious. have you never sat in a room with a friend and watched them play zelda?

...it's fun.

you all should check out Retsupurae, where they find the worst and strangest let's plays and make fun of them. sometimes they have other people play while they commentate, and very rarely they will actually play a game

in my opinion, finding livestreams on http://twitch.tv/ to watch is way more fun than recorded let's plays. I will admit that I love to put on Game Grumps' Sonic 06 run when I'm cooking or cleaning or eating, but other than GG and retsu I only watch speedruns and livestreams

oh, related news as well: siglemic just set a new 70-star World Record for Super Mario 64, and he livestreams ALLLL the time. http://www.twitch.tv/siglemic

Speed Runs Live: http://www.twitch.tv/team/srl

Edited by Benjamin Briggs
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Tetraninja is the one I recommend if you're looking for a let's play-walkthrough. His videos are always high quality, he doesn't run on a script so his reactions to game events are very legitimate and his commentating is never overboard and never is distracting. That is, of course, assuming you're interested in the story of the game he's playing.

http://www.youtube.com/user/tetraninja/videos?view=0

Edited by RiverSound
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the appeal of watching someone play a video game, to an actual gamer, should be obvious. have you never sat in a room with a friend and watched them play zelda?

...it's fun.

Ick, no! I want them to give me the controller and let ME play Zelda, or put a game on that we can both play. If I went to hang out with a friend and they picked up a single-player game, I'd leave! Unless maybe they were like "dude I can't get this part, help me out". But that's me.

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Game Grumps is not LPing. That's a whole other monster. But Game Grumps is hilarious. I love their Sonic '06 stuff, yes, but everything really is funny.

My personal friend, Josiah Clark, did an LP channel called blinkkandyoumissit which had its successful moments in the LP community. At one point I think that the channel had reached like 1.3 million upload views or something? But I just checked back there today and the viewcount pulled back like it has before and he's once again at over 900,000 upload views...

Currently he's doing a new LP channel by the name HerrinPlays which he started about 6 months ago or something, and he's got like 460 or 470 subs on it or something right now. He just decided to completely start over again or something. And then he has his main channel, but that's a whole other story. Recently he and I have been collaborating, YouTube-wise. I actually did the original music for HerrinPlays, though I can't really brag about that when the channel hasn't really been a ridiculously successful one in the past 6 months. I mean, I guess 460 subs in 6 months is a pretty good start.

Other than him, I don't actually watch much LPs. I mean, occasionally Chuggaconroy but he's sorta become uninteresting to me. Something about his Majora's Mask LP was what made me like him most. That was my favorite of his.

Yup.

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For me there are three reasons. The first is to see if a game is any good. I'll check out some footage and if it looks fun I'll stop watching and buy it. The second reason is the player. Some have good commentary,others are so pro its amazing, and others are so terrible its hilarious. The third reason is its fun. I've watched my siblings play games (and played with them) for years, so I guess its only natural for me to enjoy watching other people play games.

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I mainly watch Let's Plays for games I don't have access to for whatever reason or don't really want to play myself but still would like to see. I'm really enjoying Adam aka Swimming Bird's Ni No Kuni playthrough. The Great Clement is doing all, and I do mean ALL, the Sonic games in chronological order (just got to the end of Sonic and the Secret Rings) and has done the classic Mega Man and Mega Man X games. BrainScratch Commentaries is pretty rediculous and annoying at times, but has a lot of highlights in any given playthrough as they spend more time bashing each other than commenting on the game.

Edited by Abadoss
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My biggest problem with Lets play and other gaming videos is the commentary. God these people sound like hell! Pretty much ruins the entire game for me right there.

Until Troy Baker or Yui Horie start doing lets plays i won't be watching them at all. But I will continue to complain about them. :)

"Hi this Omar from MMOhut.com and today we'll be lookaadsjiwndawasdisnwddafiwadwadnsidwniawdniadndasdiasndwnad..."

If you don't believe me. (Edit I'm a Laid back tolerant easy going kinda guy and I couldnt make it past 2:16) Edited by Garpocalypse
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For me it depends. Some games I am interested in but suck at, or I don't own the system and will never play the games. I just watched a let's play of Metal Gear Solid 4, which was pretty cool.

Other than that, I generally just like to watch Fenix Down's LP's. He does a lot of rpg stuff, and his voices are pretty fun, and he has a semi-dry sense of humor I really appreciate. There have been a few cameos of FF4 project music in the FF4 let's play which is sweet too. :-)

http://www.youtube.com/user/fenixdown83

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My biggest problem with Lets play and other gaming videos is the commentary. God these people sound like hell! Pretty much ruins the entire game for me right there.

Until Troy Baker or Yui Horie start doing lets plays i won't be watching them at all. But I will continue to complain about them. :)

Sounds like someone who hasn't heard

yet.
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In the spin-off thread I said:

Lets Play's are only worthwhile for me to watch if the person commentating enhances the gameplay. Do they have a lot of knowledge about the game? Is the game interesting or different every time it's played? (Such as FTL or Dwarf Fortress) or is the person simply funny?

Another big thing for me, thinking about it, is production value. I like watching let's plays with a lot of editing and post production. It makes 'generic' let's plays look lazy in comparison, and overall enhances the experience.

Therefore, my favourite Let's Player is TheAuzzieGamer. His Let's Plays are more like walkthroughs in my opinion, but they show a good knowledge of the game, are very well editted and are absolutely hilarious.

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Ya fo reals, no reason it isn't an LP at heart. They are playing the game, their commentary style is just very tangential

Admittedly they half-ass a lot of (terrible) games, but their main playthroughs are full on LPs in my eyes.

Last time I checked, an LP is where you are playing a game and walking viewers through it while commentating.

Game Grumps never know what they are doing. They are just playing the game. There are the occasional games they play that they've played before but let's be honest, lately they've been getting offtrack and not even talking about the game. It's more like listening to them joking about something completely unrelated while watching a video game being played. And I love it.

If LPing is just playing a game and talking, then I don't call anything LPing, because then it would all be LPing. TobyGames is not LPing. PewDiePie isn't really LPing. PBG gamer claims his gameplay channel isn't LPing. And that channel is a lot like TobyGames or Game Grumps.

I've always viewed REAL LPing as commentary over a game while walking viewers through the game and being of decent entertainment [hopefully].

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About the only "Let's Play" material I watch is the retsupurae guys.

The wrongupuraes of

and
are particularly noteworthy for being very, very funny.

The original SomethingAwful Let's Plays the guys did of games like Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime 2 Echoes are entertaining, though too long for me.

And while these aren't precisely "Let's Plays", there's also

, where some folk from a shmup community sort of commentate over a user-submitted playthrough of a shmup, usually talking about strategy this or that, which is fun and informative.
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My biggest problem with Lets play and other gaming videos is the commentary. God these people sound like hell! Pretty much ruins the entire game for me right there.

This is why I created this thread. Yeah, almost everyone out there is really bad at it, so it's nice to be able to find the people who are any good.

I've watched a bit of retsupurae, but I don't really like their videos very much, they get pretty boring quick.

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